american-poltics

Any politician who opposes allowing 10,000 Syrian refugees (that’s 10,000 human beings fleeing an absolute disaster at home) into the United States should have to provide a detailed chart showing their Native American lineage going back at least as far as the Mayflower.

See, we’re all (well, the overwhelming majority) immigrants – or the descendants of immigrants. And, as each new wave of people has sought these shores – whether to escape war, or famine, or to seek economic opportunities – the previous waves sought to block them, or discriminated against them.

On the pedestal of The Statue of Liberty – the first thing so many immigrants to America saw – is a poem by Emma Lazarus. It reads (in part):

“Oppressed people do not have the energy to teach everyone about the oppression they have to live through every day.” — D. Watkins, from his book, The Beast Side: Living and Dying While Black in America, new from Hot Books.